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TODAY’S WORD…

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If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need

but shows no compassion

– how can God’s love be in that person?

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Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other;

let us show the truth by our actions.

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– 1 John 3:17-18 (NLT)

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REFLECTION…

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Each one of us has a choice, to pass by those in need,

or to take action to help others.

But Christian love must be sincere

and it must also be active.

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We need to translate love into concrete gestures

and such love must come from the heart.

Besides, actions and works, are what measure the genuineness of the Christian life;

and they show whether our faith and charity are real.

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“If one of the brothers or sisters is in need of clothes

and has not enough food to live on,

and one of you says to them,

‘I wish you well, keep yourself warm and eat plenty,’

without giving them these bare necessities of life,

then what good is that?” – James 2:16

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QUOTE…

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“Christ will count a kindness done or refused to the poor

as done or refused to Himself…”

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– Pope Leo XIII

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PRAYER…

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O Lord, my God,

I thank You for all the blessings You have bestowed upon me,

and especially for the gift of faith.

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Lord, grant that I reciprocate Your love for me

in a manner that is pleasing to You.

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Lead me, Lord,

and grant that I will do Your will.

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Help me, Lord,

to look beyond myself, my family, and my own direct interests,

so that I will gladly go and share my blessings

as well as Your love, joy, peace and hope

with those others who are less fortunate than I am.

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Amen.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord, use me to reflect Your love through my actions and deeds

on those who are so in need.

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YEAR OF FAITH 2012-2013

FROM THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH…

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Man is himself the author, center, and goal of all economic and social life.

The decisive point of the social question is

that goods created by God for everyone should in fact reach everyone

in accordance with justice and with the help of charity.

[CCC 2459]

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How can we not recognize Lazarus, the hungry beggar in the parable (cf. Lk 17:19-31),

in the multitude of human beings without bread, a roof or a place to stay?

How can we fail to hear Jesus:

“As you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me”? (Mt 25:45)

[CCC 2463]

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